While the Noida and Greater Noida authorities have hired a private agency — Currie & Brown — to conduct an audit, YEIDA has formed a five-member committee headed by additional chief executive officer Amarnath Upadhyay.

YEIDA has decided to audit the accounts of all 42 builders who have failed to finish housing projects on time. (HT FIle)

The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority’s (YEIDA) audit of 42 builders’ accounts is expected to be completed by December-end, officials said.

While the Noida and Greater Noida authorities have hired a private agency — Currie & Brown — to conduct an audit, YEIDA has formed a five-member committee headed by additional chief executive officer Amarnath Upadhyay to audit each builders’ accounts.

YEIDA has decided to audit the accounts of all 42 builders who have failed to finish housing projects on time. YEIDA chairman Dr Prabhat Kumar said he constituted the committee and did not hire a private for the audit to save money.

“We had issued notices to all 42 builders asking them to provide necessary financial details for the audit but only 16 builders replied to the notices and furnished the information about housing projects and other financial details. We have sent a reminder to 26 builders for submitting details for the audit. We plan to complete the job by December-end without fail,” said Amarnath Upadhyay, ACEO, YEIDA.

On September 12, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had directed the chief executive officers of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities to audit builders who had failed to deliver flats to homebuyers.

The directive came after homebuyers demanded an audit and alleged that the builders from whom they had purchased flats could not finish construction as they had diverted the funds collected to other projects.

Homebuyers are hopeful that the audit will identify the builders who, according to them, misused the funds meant for developing the housing projects.

“We are collecting details such as money collected for a housing project from buyers, banks and other institutions, spent on land or construction and how much money is required to finish a project. We will begin the scrutiny once we have the details. If we get the required details on time, the audit can also be completed before December-end,” said ACEO.

The UP government is of the view that if the audit confirms a fund diversion, then a forensic audit will also be conducted for initiating action against builders.

YEIDA had allotted land to these 42 builders in 2009-10 and the builders were supposed to finish the projects by 2013-14. However, citing a dip in sales amid the slowdown, the builders are yet to finish their projects.